Senator Jon Kyl Set To Retire in 2012

Published on February 11st, 2011 11:58 pm EST

Senator Jon Kyl announced earlier this week that he would not be seeking a fourth Senate term in 2012.

The 68 year-old Kyl revealed in a statement that "there is more to life than working in the United States Senate", and that "my heart says it's time". There was a great deal of speculation leading up to Kyl's announcement as to whether or not he would be seeking another term.

Online poker players (especially those living in the United States) have been particularly happy about Kyl's decision to retire in 2012. Kyl has been a thorn in the side of the online gambling industry for a number of years now, and his retirement in 2012 should make it easier to eventually pass legislation that would license and regulate the game of poker in the United States.

Jon Kyl is a very powerful member of the Senate who decided early on in his career to make it his pet project to derail online gambling in the United States. Sure, another conservative will likely be elected to the Senate in Kyl's place, but they won't have the power that Kyl had, and they probably won't have the same fervent anti-online gambling stance. This is why Kyl's decision not to seek re-election to the Senate in 2012 is a fairly big deal.

Senator Jon Kyl was one of the biggest proponents of the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and almost single-handedly derailed Senator Harry Reid's push to pass an online gambling bill late last year.

It's safe to say that Jon Kyl won't be missed by the online gambling industry.